Femme Summer 2021

This is incredible! They managed to take a strong jasmine, very similar to the one of Paradoxe by Prada (only this one came out first), and they put it on the gorgeous powdery dry down of the original Femme, with fresia and magnolia enriching the blend and a sparkly, mandarin tinged bergamot for an opening. Taken alone it is a simple floral that I am sure many will consider boring and unoriginal but if you, like me, are a fan of Femme og (white or yellow cube) then this is the most awaited, lovely summer flanker! And it smells complex too for being just a Zara cube, it could pass for a designer no doubt! It is now on sale for only 8,95€ so I thought to review it as I am doing with the most unknown Zara that I deem good, maybe it can be of some help since little is known about the new edition. I am reviewing the 2022/2023 edition which has a transparent yellow glass packaging and it is called Femme Summer. It opens with some seriously sparkling bergamot, I think one of the best Zara has used until now, it is refreshing and louminous, and lightly dipped in mandarin peel. Surprisingly it is strong and it even last on the skin. Togheter with it there is a floral component of fresia, not the spicy kind but lightly fruity and honeyed, with a green character, which makes for a very energetic and feminine opening. It smells like summer, literally! The fresia makes way to an explosion of jasmine, I say explosion because it literally comes out on blast mode. It may not be natural or the best quality but it is an amazingly complex jasmine for costing this little! It smells posh, sweet and glossy and it remainds me of the one of Paradoxe by Prada but a touch more stinky and dirty then that. This isn't a soapy or clean jasmine, even if as a whole the scent may appear clean, it is quite heady and sensual, and it smells warm and honeyed. With time it clears out a bit and becomes more green, but it is still very warm, summery and sensual, as if hit by sun rays. At a certain point in the middle the jasmine decreases in intensity and temperature, another type of creamy floral makes way and I belive it could be the magnolia since it is kind of fizzy and lightly lemony, it for sure calms down the indolic jasmine. The scent settles on their combo for the most part but near to the dry down only the jasmine remains, now more demure and toned down, the characteristic Femme base starts to came out and the jasmine gets powdery. This is the part of the scent that remainds me of Femme og, same light warm woods, light almost not there vanilla and powdery, airy, kitten fur musk. Femme Summer doesn't have the "boyish" character of Femme nor the heliotrope, that part is missing, this flanker is instead extremely feminine but the powdery dna is here. This is my favorite stage because the jasmine gets really powdery and that is one of my favorite way of wearing jasmine as opposed to the usual heady, soapy or clean one. It even remainds me a bit of Lush cult product called Silky Underwear ( the body powder)! I think a bit of amber is present too but the musk and delicate woods prevails, the vanilla is just a whisper. Unfortunatelly performance is not that great: it last for five hours at best and projects moderately only for the first two hours; the dry down will resist more but it is only intimate. Good news is that overspraying helps quite a bit and with such a low price it is possible to to without guilt. Layered with Femme og or with an ambroxan/iso fragrance it will last and projects more. When I use it I bring with me a Travalo spray or a little decant, and I enjoy quite a lot that fresh burst of revitalising bergamot with each new spray. Femme Summer has some seriously summery vibes, the strong, warm, sweet white florals with all their sensuality put on some of the cosy Femme og base makes for the perfect concoction to use during warm summery nights to spend in hedonism. It makes me think of the most delicious moments of summery leisure, probably it has some vacation vibes too. The classic Femme dna is graceful and airy but the florals heart is heavy and sultry, very feminine. Femme Summer and Royal Freesia are the only truly jasmine based perfume in Zara catalogue and they are both summer only edition, probably they cost too much to produce or maybe Zara usual target of clientele find them dated and too mature. Sublime Epoque has jasmine too but it is much more clean there, and surrounded by bubble-y tuberose and orange flowers. I don't think this strong jasmine smells dated or old style but you have to truly love jasmine in order to even get close to it. Packaging is cute, yellow trasparent glass and yellow trasperent cap, the style is the usual Zara cube but the new round version (different from the one in the photo), box is simple. It is only available in a 100ml refillable bottle (with of course no refil!).

Review for the current version in the yellow 90ml bottle, "Femme summer collection 04". This has a bit of the original Femme's full, creamy dna with frangipani but is jasmine centered. I mostly get a deep jasmine accompanied by clean, airy musk, vanilla, sandalwood, amber and juicy mandarin. There's also a hint of heliotrope. Zara also lists bergamot, magnolia and freesia in their description. A rich floral with summer vibe from fresh mandarin but suitable also for cooler weather, very femme. Good longevity and sillage, leaves a scent trail for many hours.